I don’t know all that much about art, as the saying goes, but I know a little, and want to know more. I took an Art History 100 course in uni. It was a three hour lecture held on a Monday night in a large, warm auditorium in a frozen, windy city. The professor had a deeply soothing voice and an endless series of slides. As such, I slept though the Classical Greeks and Romans, nodded through the Renaissance, snored out loud through Romanticism, and woke with a start to Contemporary Art. I can tell a Manet (naked ladies) from a Monet (lily pads). The Impressionists impress, Munch is a scream, and when it comes to pointillism, que Seurat Seurat. No, but really. I am moved to stillness by Edward Hopper. That light. I love the dreamy surprise of Surrealism: Dali, of course, and Magritte’s self-portrait in a bowler hat with a green apple covering his face. I’ve visited many important museums and galleries, and no, not just the gift shops. I can’t draw or paint if I had a gun to my head, and while I hope this situation never comes to pass, I do have a deep appreciation for those who can paint, draw, or just create, with or without a gun to their head. I don’t have the budget or the eye to be a true patron of the arts, but I like to think of myself as a supporter. I’m a booster of the arts.
Beautifully written! What a beautiful piece!